Maybe Matt's Miracle(53)

I grin. I can’t help it. “Yeah,” I say. “I am.” I nudge her shoulder with mine. “You okay with that?” I ask.

She leans over like she’s going to hug me but pulls back. “I can still hug you, right?” she asks. I take her in my arms and hold her tightly to me, and then I roll her over and drop her unceremoniously into Logan’s lap. He looks up at her and grins, surprised to find here there.

“We’re okay, right?” she asks me, motioning from me to her and back.

I ruffle her hair. “We’re just like we’ve always been,” I say. I let my hand rest on the top of her head.

Sky walks over to me and sits down next to me. I put my arm on the back of the couch, and she snuggles against my side. Nothing ever felt quiet as right as this moment does.

Logan turns off the game and the TV. Now that Emily is in his lap, she has all of his attention. Logan signs to me. Go get Em’s guitar.

I get up and go to the closet where Emily keeps her favorite guitar. Reagan passes out drinks while Emily sets up for a minute, tweaking and twirling as she strums the strings.

Emily leans over, takes my hand off my knee, and kisses it quickly. My heart warms. Sky smiles up at me and looks at me curiously. But she’s not angry. I can tell. Then Sky lays her head on my shoulder, her body molding into mine. She fits against me. She fits my life.

Even Pete and Sam stop wrestling when Emily starts to sing. She has a voice that’s a thing of beauty, and emotion wells up inside me. The room goes quiet, aside from the sound of her voice.

Sky sucks in a startled breath, and I scoot over behind her, arranging her between my thighs so she can lean against me. She lays her head back on my shoulder and settles into me.

I hear the door open, and Friday walks into the apartment. She looks around, and her eyes land on Paul. He looks everywhere but at her. Her eyes close, and she takes a deep breath. But then she comes and sits on the floor beside Sam, and Paul brings her a margarita. He leans close to her and says something in her ear. She nods and draws her lower lip between her teeth. He smiles, and Paul looks peaceful for a second. Then it’s gone.

Emily gets a little louder, and the room starts to ring with the sound of her music. Peace settles over me, and I realize that this is what it’s all about. My fight with cancer. My fight with life. My fight with love. All my fighting led me here. And I don’t want to be anywhere else. I have my family around me, the woman I love is in my arms, and our kids are scattered around the apartment. It can’t get any better than this.





Skylar



I can’t figure out why Emily isn’t playing on a stage at a huge, sold-out venue somewhere instead of strumming her heart out in the Reeds’ living room. She has some amazing talent, and I could sit here all day and listen to her. Her voice is full and rich and so emotional that she almost brings a tear to my eye.

Every few minutes, she looks over at Logan and grins at him. He watches her mouth closely, and I see his fingertips settle on the base of her guitar at times.

Matt’s arms tighten around my middle, and his fingers slide beneath my shirt to rest flat on my belly. It’s so intimate that it makes me squirm. I cover his hand with mine and he keeps his fingers still for a second. His mouth is right beside my ear when he turns his head, and he whispers, “I bet you’re still wet.”

Heat creeps up my cheeks, and my belly does that little dance that’s all because of Matt. “Stop it,” I hiss.

Suddenly, a ball flies through the air and hits Matt in the forehead. He reaches for it and catches it in the air. It’s a little, blue Nerf ball and not something that would hurt him. He squeezes it in his fist. “Very amusing,” he says to the room.

“You’re going to corrupt the kids,” one of the twins says. I think it’s Sam, but they look so much alike that I can’t be sure. Then I see the other one is cuddled up with Reagan, so this one must be Sam.

“The kids are in the other f*cking room, dumbass,” Matt says. He hurls the ball back at Sam. It bounces off his shoulder, and Paul reaches up to pluck it from the air. He throws it back at Sam, where it deflects off his ear.

Seth raises a hand tentatively. “I’m a kid, and I’m still here,” he reminds us playfully. Any other time and he wouldn’t be caught dead in the kid category.

Sam raises his hand, too. “I am, too. You’re going to corrupt me.” He shivers playfully. “All that lovey-dovey shit makes me want to throw up my cupcakes.” He burps loudly and covers his mouth with his closed fist after. “And I worked hard on those cupcakes,” he reminds everyone.

Matt nudges me. “Did you get a cupcake?” he asks.

I shake my head. “Not yet.”

He slides out from behind me and comes back with two. “You’ll like it,” he says. “Sam makes the best cupcakes.” He sits down beside me, the length of his leg pressed along mine.

“Oh, a cupcake,” Reagan breathes, and she crawls across the floor on her hands and knees, and then reaches up to take the cupcake from Matt. He laughs and fends her off for a second, but she gets a grip of his wrist and brings the cupcake toward her mouth. Her mouth hangs open wide as she laughs, tugging his arm, and he struggles to keep the cupcake.

“You can take him, princess!” Pete calls from where he’s sitting on the floor. “You got this!” Pete laughs, rolling onto his back as he falls over. Sam slaps his palm against Pete’s and laughs, too.